PREPARATIONS OF THE AUSTRIAN EXPEDITION TOWARDS INDIA 1775-1776
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19090/i.2018.29.63-77Keywords:
Austria, India, Maria Theresa, Joseph II, William BoltsAbstract
During the second half of the 18th century Austria’s trade policy sought to restore ties to India and other parts of Asia that had successfully existed during the period of the Ostend Company (1722-1731). In this respect, the increasingly successful activity of the British East India Company was an example for the Vienna government in indicating of which lucrative possibilities lay in the proper development of trade in the east. Austria soon decided to try to organize trade expeditions to India itself and the British experience was of primary importance to it. An indispensable link for the launch of such ventures was the opportunity for the representatives of the Austrian diplomatic network to meet directly with individuals from the group of traders who had already had extensive experience in trade with India. This was exactly the case in London in 1774, when the Austrian Ambassador Ludovico Luigi Carlo Maria di Barbiano di Belgiojoso met one of the most famous European entrepreneurs of the second half of the 18th century, William Bolts. It was the beginning of a new great Austrian adventure in Asia and at the same time an attempt to radically redefine the essential nature of the Habsburg position and philosophy. Immediately after the Austrian diplomatic network came into contact with Bolts, the sophisticated preparations of the expedition began, before the final take off in 1776.
Downloads
References
-Kart. 1: Ostindische Kompanie Triest Antwerpen 1661, 1766-1789
-Kart. 2: Ostindische Kompanie Triest Antwerpen (1774-1787)
-Kart. 3: Ostindische Kompanie Triest Antwerpen (1774-1788)
-Kart. 4: Diplomatische Korrespondenz der Staatskanzlei mit der Kompanie (1774-1786)
-Kart. 6: Korrespondenz der Staatskanzlei mit der Kompanie (1782-1788)
„The Gentleman's Magazine“, 1785, ii., 920.
Aretin, K. O. Freiherr von, ʻFürst Kaunitz und die österreichisch-ostindische Handelskompagnie von 1775: Prof. Johann Albert Frhr. v. Reiswitz zum 60. Geburtstag. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des österreichischen Staatsbewußtseins unter Kaiser Joseph IIʼ, Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 46. Bd., H. 3 (Oktober), 1959, 361-377.
Baguet, J. ʻPolitics and commerce: a close marriage? The case of the Ostend Company (1722-1731)ʼ. Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis, 12 (3), 2015, 51-76.
Beer, A. „Die österreichische Handelspolitik unter Maria Theresia und Josef II.“, Archiv für österreichische Geschichte, 86, 1899, 1-204.
Bolts, G. Recueil de pièces Authentiques, relatives aux affaires de la ci-devant Imperial asiatique Société de Trieste, gérées à Anvers, 1787.
Bronza, B. ʻAustrian Diplomats from the Vienna Oriental Academy on the Balkan Peninsula During the Second Half of the Eighteenth Centuryʼ, in Maria Baramova, Plamen Mitev, Ivan Parvev, Vania Racheva (Eds.), Power and Influence in South-Eastern Europe, 16th-19th century, Berlin, 2013, 329-338.
Eberstein, B. Preußen und China. Eine Geschichte schwieriger Beziehungen, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2007.
Erceg, I. ʻDer Merkantilismus in Kroatien. Die Handelspolitik des Habsburgerstaates im 18. Jahrhundert mit besonderer Berücksichtigung Ungarns und seiner Nachbarländerʼ, Österreichische Osthefte, 8, 1966, 300-308.
Faber, E. Litorale Austriaco. Das österreichische und kroatische Küstenland 1700-1780, Schriftenreihe des Historischen Instituts, Nr. 5, Veröffentllichungen des Steiermärkisches Landesarchives 20, Trondheim-Graz, 1995.
Frendo, H. ʻThe French in Malta 1798 - 1800: reflections on an insurrectionʼ, Cahiers de la Méditerranée, 57, 1998, 143-151.
Gasser, P. ʻÖsterreichs Levantehandel über Triest 1740-1790ʼ, Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs, 7, 1954, 120-130.
Gough, B. M. and Robert J. King, ʻWilliam Bolts: An Eighteenth Century Merchant Adventurerʼ, Archives: the Journal of the British Records Association, vol. XXXI no. 112, 2005, 8-28.
Hallward, N. L. William Bolts, A Dutch Adventurer under John Company, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1920.
Houtman-De Smedt, H. Charles Proli. Antwerps Zakenman en Bankier, 1723–1786. Een Biografische en Bedrijfshistorische Studie, Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België. Klasse der letteren 45, no. 180, Brussel, 1983.
______. ʻThe ambitions of the Austrian Empire with reference to East India during the last quarter of the eighteenth centuryʼ, in Sushil Chaudhury, Michel Morineau (Eds.), Merchants, companies and trade. Europe and Asia in the early modern era, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, 227-239.
Israel, J. The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477-1806, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.
Keay, J. The Honourable Company. A History of the English East India Company, London: Macmillan, 1991.
Markov, W. ʻLa Compagnia Asiatica di Triesteʼ, Studi Storici, 2 (1), 1961, 3-28.
Michielsen, L. „Het einde van de Oostendsche Kompagnie“, Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis, 28, 1937, 121-134.
Nagel, J. G. Abenteuer Fernhandel. Die Ostindienkompanien, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2007.
Pollack-Parnau, F. von, ʻEine österreich-ostindische Handelskompanie, 1775-1785: Beitrag zur österreichisch Wirtschaftsgeschichte unter Maria Theresia und Joseph IIʼ, Vierteljahrsschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, Beiheft 12, Stuttgart, 1927.
Temple, Sir R. C. ʻAustria's Commercial Venture in India in the Eighteenth Centuryʼ, Indian Antiquary. A Journal of Oriental Research, XLVI, 1917, 277-286.
Williams, R. London's Lost Global Giant: In Search of the East India Company, London: Bristol Book Publishing, 2015.
